Unisys Corp duly announced its Open Parallel Unisys Server yesterday, claiming it to be the most comprehensive offering for decision support in the industry: the machine leapfrogs competitive offerings in ease of operation, openness, growth and software portability. Developed with Intel Corp, the system runs the Unix System V.4/MK operating system, derived from System V.4 and the Chorus Systemes SA microkernel, and Unisys plans to license it to other system vendors or directly to their customers, making a standard version of Unix available for other vendors to use in developing parallel applications and solutions. It claims that the key differentiating benefits of the operating system include Single System Image, which it says dramatically simplifies the development, administration and use of parallel processing systems. Oracle Corp and Red Brick Systems Inc have put optimised versions of their databases up on the machine. The software portfolio includes applications developed for financial services, airlines and transport, retailing and communications, as well as application development, database communications and systems management tools, which seems to pitch the machine squarely at Unisys’ own mainframe base. The Pentium-based machine uses Unisys-optimised Intel Mesh Interconnect. It is said to be capable of scaling from eight up to hundreds of Intel processors, and starts at $685,538 for an eight-processor system with 40Gb of storage, the operating system and console and ships will start May 15.
